บท 3: Who Are They?
Billie Bob Jones
My mind was riddled with thoughts as I drove Delilah and I home. There was something about those men that did not add up to me and the cowboy in me was on high alert. It did not take a fool to figure out that they were not your average nine to five business men especially with those tattoos.
I was not someone who judged people, I never judged people but I did observe. Delilah had never mentioned them to me before but she probably knew I would pay no attention to it either.
"Bobby you've probably sighed twenty times since you've picked me up, what's going on inside that thick skull of yours?" she turned her body in her seat to look at me with her head tilted to the right.
It was evident she was tired. After being in the hospital for most of the morning and working a five hour shift at the café, she had circles under her eyes and her neat ponytail from this morning was in slight disarray.
"I'm just thinking," I bit the inside of my left cheek as I focused on the road ahead.
"About?"
"The men I saw in the café," I quickly looked at her.
She raised her eyebrows in slight surprise then sighed, "Oh, yeah they come over three times a week."
"They don't seem like the type to like cute little cafes."
"They're not. They normally come from that fancy building next to us," she explained as she untied her hair from her ponytail.
"They don't give you no trouble?"
"Not at all, the blonde normally just orders drinks for all three of them then they go to their little corner. I have no idea what they say most of the time because they speak in Portuguese but normally it's like they're not even there."
"Have you talked to them before? Like a full conversation?"
She pouted as she looked slightly up then shrugged, "I know the blonde one's name is Ronaldo he is the friendlier one out of the bunch, the one with short dark hair barely speaks to me unless he orders something but the tall one with hair has never even acknowledged my existence."
"He seems a bit stuck up to me."
"He really is." She continued to tell me about how he would send his drink back if he did not like it and she would have to remake it with the instructions he had given to Ronaldo to give to her.
Worst of all he would send her an unimpressed glare when she finally did get it right and she would be the one to apologize for making a drink she made for multiple customers right but was wrong for him.
"It's not hard to make a cinnamon caramel latte, but it's like he wants this unrealistic perfect balance between the two and if he doesn't get what he wants he makes everyone feel it."
"Have you told Rich?" He was the manager of the store and we were all good friends. He never allowed anyone to step all over his employees especially Delilah.
"Apparently Mister hot shot owns the place so Rich fears him. I would too, he screams scary."
"Hmm, well you'll let me know if they give you any trouble."
"Bobby these are not the type of men you can just come and bash their heads together. Plus I'm not some damsel in distress that you need to come and safe. Just mind your business and they'll mind theirs," she rolled her eyes as she looked out the window.
I wanted to argue with her because I knew one day they were going to give her a problem but decided against it. Delilah was as tough as they got and if there was one woman who could argue or fight their way out of something it was her.
I guessed I was just surprised to see men like that. I knew I did not go out of our small town much but I also knew it was not every day you came across such men. Yet at the end of the day I was the last person to judge someone by their looks, as they could be deceiving.
It was not like I was your perfect hometown cowboy either.
"Look all I'm saying is thank you for being concerned but they seem nice-ish, if nice is a word to describe them. You don't have to worry about a thing," she gave me a small smile calming my nerves.
"I'm sorry, I've always been a bit overprotective," I sucked the gap between my two front teeth, it was a bad habit I could not shake.
"That's what makes you cute," she winked making us both laugh.
When we arrived in Bloom we headed to the local market to buy some food and the butcher afterwards. Delilah, Rob and I all shared the second main house on the ranch which meant dinner was always slightly chaotic.
Rob never knew when to stop eating, apparently it was not healthy to have a beer after dinner from Delilah's nagging and Delilah often complained she did everything herself but when we offered to help she would tell us we did not know how to do a single thing right.
By the time dinner was over I was beat as I dragged myself up the stairs to the second floor. Rob slept on the first floor because he snored too loud and no one near him could ever fall asleep. Delilah had the main bedroom because it had an en-suite bathroom and I felt it was only fitting because she was the only woman in the house.
I had the second bigger bedroom which I found to be a waste of space since I barely spent time in my bedroom anyway. I kicked off my boots from my first step in and sighed in relief as my sock covered feet touched the cold dark wooden floors.
It was a cooler night which I was thankful for. I stripped down to my underwear to go take a shower. After my shower dressed in a clean pair of underwear I collapsed in my bed, grateful that tonight I had a soft mattress under my body. Before I could even process I had fallen asleep.
The next morning was no different to the last. We had breakfast, I got ready to take Delilah to the city and left Rob in charge in the meantime.
"Rob?" I called out once I got back to the ranch.
Today was going to be a busy day as we had to separate all the calves from their mothers for vaccination, branding and if they were bulls castrated. Luckily we only had ten to go through but it did not mean it was any less work.
He came out of the barn with a straw hat, a piece of yellow straw in his mouth, a checked shirt and for whatever reason skinny jeans with his cowboy boots. "You called?" he grinned as he pulled out his sunglasses from his jean's back pocket and put them on.
I breathed out heavily already exhausted with him, "when is the vet going to be here?"
"Which one?"
"Don't be an idiot Robbie," I deadpanned as I got out my gloves from the glove compartment and put on my hat.
"I'm just kidding. What crawled up your ass and died?" he snickered. "Said he'd be here in ten minutes."
"Where's Willie, Cody and Ben?"
"They'll be here in a minute."
Just as he said that a white Ford second generation truck drove down the gravel path with three singing idiots.
The first to hop out of the truck was Cody, unlike Rob he was actually dressed for the occasion in straight leg jeans, his boots and a durable shirt with his brown cowboy hat, "Hi boss," he smiled as he walked over to me and shook my hand.
"Where are you coming from?" I chuckled as Willie followed dancing to a beat only he heard.
"Oh we just came from the market," Cody grinned as he quickly lifted up his hat and ran his fingers through his messily chopped blonde hair.
"He lying we came back from seeing his girlfriend," Willie teasingly swooned before placing his hat over his short brown curly hair.
"The girl that works at the diner?" I whistled making Cody's face flush red.
"You bet your boots. He's so in love she's all he talked about," Ben teased as he shook Cody's shoulders making him roll his eyes.
"Well you're more than welcome to visit your girlfriend whenever you please but not during work hours. Clyde don't pay you to make kissy faces at your woman," I laughed as we all made our way to the pens where we kept the calves with their mothers.
"If so, Cody would be a millionaire," Rob chuckled making us all burst out laughing at Cody's embarrassed face.
"Don't worry Cody, love is a wonderful thing enjoy it whilst it lasts," I threw my arm over his shoulder as he shyly looked down to the ground.
"Have you ever been in love Bobby?" Willie randomly asked.
Rob and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows before I answered, "I don't think so. I haven't had the privilege yet."
"Well I definitely know all the ladies in the town will line up just to get a chance," Ben winked.
"I'm sure they would," I shook my head as I chuckled.
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